The life of a factory worker – and her many struggles.
She was in her early twenties when she started working in the factory. Hours were long, after hours social life was dull and next to zero because of the frequent overtime and infrequent days off due to production schedules. .
Girl meets boy, the young man was also a worker in the factory, and the inevitable happened, she was pregnant. Word got out; the girl’s uncle came looking for the culprit, and the young man fled the factory, never to be found again.
Migrant workers here are not obligated to have their resident status reported daily to the authority, unlike hotel and lodging guests. She soldiered on, gave birth to a baby boy. The boy was taken home to her parents to be cared for.
No man is an island, or no person is an island. She eventually met another guy, who also worked there. They fell for each other, and they and worked and lived together, and have a baby boy. To this point everybody wished her second time lucky – marriage wise, and so it seemed.
Things are never what it appeared to be. The man soon disappeared with their son, and she is left with the clothes on her back. A young son back home from her first liaison which her parents are still caring for. At this point you wouldn’t think things can possibly get any worse…
You guess wrong, her parents had an argument amongst themselves, and he left. She has a younger brother who was mentally challenged, and now her mother is stuck with having to take care for two boys, one teen and one young boy.
The last I heard, she made an agreement with her mother, she would bring her younger brother to the city where she works, and cares for him besides her own work. The grandmother will continue care for the much younger boy at home.
I speak with the young people I work with; a lot of the young men admit that they do not send monies home on a regular base. On the contrary young ladies do send monies home to support their parents for their daily necessities.
Yet, a very large percentage of our rural population still dot on their male heir. I do not know how the land distribution scheme works in rural China, perhaps a piece of land would be given to a male heir for his future home when he is coming of age. A female off spring would not have the same privilege. Anyways, so much for the five thousand years culture.